Back once again in the bay area and sharing DJ duties with The Tourist. We will both be spinning vinyl too for the occasion, the 17th birthday of Carlton Melton (and a mere 22 days from the 20th birthday of Was Ist Das? so this is kinda a birthday party for all).
Kind of weird how it ended up being almost a year since my last public appearance in Todmorden!
First DJ set since 2017! First UK DJ set since 2016! First Todmorden DJ set since 2015!
The Golden Lion Todmorden is pleased to be hosting Alex Rex with special guests Victor Herroro and Peat.
Alex Rex
Alex Rex is the solo project of the relentless Alex Neilson, collaborator of such artists as Shirley Collins, Bonnie Prince Billy, Current 93 and of course Trembling Bells. His current album paradise is his 4th solo record to date, and will be performed with his longtime fellow troubadour Rory Haye (electric guitar, vocals).
Uncut – 7/10
Mojo – 3*
Folk Radio – ‘one of the most distinctive and continuously excellent songwriters around’
Beats Per Minute – ‘Neilson invites you into his playful world, seemingly both collapsing into itself and expanding outward, and you feel better for having received the invitation.’
Victor Herrero
Victor Herrero was introduced to music in his childhood while living in the famous monastery Franco erected in a mountain valley west of Madrid (El Valle de los Caídos). During the last couple years Victor has been involved in many different projects and journeys, travelling, recording or playing with artists like Michael Gira, Keiji Haino, Luzmila Carpio, Ed Askew, Alasdair Roberts, Eric Chenaux, Tomi Simatupang, Alex Neilson, Paz Lenchantin, Gyda Valtysdottir, Abdellah el , Michael Zerang, Nat Baldwin, Lorena Álvarez, Shahzad Ismaily, etc.
Peat
Ombrogenous tones from the mire.
https://peatmusic.bandcamp.com/album/peat
Door’s open at 7:30pm
Tickets £8 / £10 OTD
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/alex-rex-victor-herrero-peat-golden-lion-todmorden-tickets-174691425757
See you there.
This is the end.
Father Murphy’s final tour. The enigmatic Italian psychedelic occult duo have released their final album, the acclaimed “Rising. A Requiem For Father Murph”, and are going out on one last tour of the world. What does Father Murphy sound like? Every album seems different. Psychedelic? Classical? Soundtracks? Laments? Yes to all the above and more. They’ve played with Swans, Xiu Xiu and gone everywhere. They will be missed. Make sure you don’t miss them tonight.
This Italian group are a cult band in every sense of the word. – THE QUIETUS
They make music that’s fantastically fucked up… – EXCLAIM!
An outsider operatic hellscape that calls to mind the starkest visions of Cormac McCarthy. – THE GUARDIAN
Italian Father Murphy conjure up a funereal atmosphere somewhere between homemade Morricone and toytown Goblin… That ol’ devil Dario would surely approve – THE WIRE
Impressive but nightmarish, like a beautifully rendered self-portrait splattered with blood and self-loathing. – ROCK-A-ROLLA
Like punks who secretly learned classical. – SAN FRANCISCO WEEKLY
Sunn Trio are one of the hottest acts in Phoenix. Tight, pulsing explorations in sound that bring to mind everything from surf to Sun Ra, arabian to garage rock. They have just announced their second album will be coming out around the same time on European label Unrock who have released countless Sun City Girls-affiliated releases so the Phoenix connection is staying strong.
“Wielding Indo-Arabian saz and white lightning six-string shrapnel amidst an alligator snapping turtle’s rhythm section, this trio-quartet-sextet may also sprout horns, flutes, animal skins, or shadow gamelan to faithfully demolish that whiny and predictable listening experience of today’s tepidly lazy, underachieving experimental music scene. Not a ‘safe’ environment.” – Alan Bishop, Sun City Girls/Alvarius B
This is the end. It’s also a beginning as its the first show put on in the USA by British promoter Was Ist Das? who relocated from Northern England to Arizona 2 years ago
Thanks to the power of proxy, our favorite gig DJ Dave Ives will be channeling the Was Ist Das? Soundsystem at the launch of Todmorden’s first craft beer emporium INSIDE the Golden Lion pub. All tracks chosen by us. Make sure to check the Modern Times beers.
It’s my second DJ outing since moving to America and my first this year. What a line-up of bands and unbelievably it happens to be the 12th birthday of Was Ist Das? and what better way to celebrate this than by choosing the tunes at this killer show with 3 of the best bands in Arizona. It’s not a show I’ve organized, it is just a perfect coincidence.
Headliners Jerusafunk are playing this as a homecoming show after touring the nation with their funky take on klezmer music. Standing ten strong they take traditional Klezmer and blend it with American Funk and other world music genres such as Jazz, Salsa, Mambo, Samba, Bossa Nova, Cumbia, and Afrobeat
The Myrrors are from Tuscon and play hypnotic psychedelic rock, erupting colors into the desert heat haze.
Opening the show are the mighty Sunn Trio, a cosmic onslaught of free jazz, psyche rock and global impulses.
Tickets on sale from here
I knew I had to find something special for my first DJ set in America and here it is! It’s a rare American show for cult Japanese pscyhedelisists Kikagaku Moru whose communal-styled freak-folk rock jams invoke the sprits of all the greats from Trad, Gras och Stenar to Amon Duul via their own private world.
Support comes from The Myrrors, the most lysergic sound ever to come out of Tucson, Arizona. Hypnotic psychedelic rock imbued with uplifting spiritual drones makes their sound something that transports you out of the humdrum reality into a strange desert of sound.
Both bands have a global following among discerning psyche-heads and all for just $10 with yours truly picking the music inbetween. Tickets and more info http://www.rhythmroom.com/event/1290099-kikagaku-moyo-phoenix/
Core Ist Das? presents a night of noise in the basement of a Huddersfield beer shop. Arcade Beers is at 6 Station Street, Huddersfield, just off the main square outside Huddersfield Train Station at 6, Station Street (on the side of Byram Arcade). It’s pay what you can and last train friendly.
Melanie O’Dubhslaine
Huddersfield born (though Bradford bred) Melanie is a member of The Wire cover stars Ashtray Navigations, Human Combustion Engine, Sculptress and also recorded as Ocelocelot. She’s collaborated with Bridget Hayden, Ceramic Hobs and Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides.
Embla Quickbeam
This is the project of Rowan Forestier-Walker. She works through manipulating field recordings to create extraordinary soundscapes. She’s recorded for the ever-reliable Chocolate Monk label in and Birghton and last November provided a live soundtrack to Alan Clarke’s classic film exploration of myth & landscape, “Penda’s Fen”.
Core Of The Coalman
Californian-born Jorge Boehringer has been recording as Core of the Coalman now for nearly 10 years with a string of releases on labels the world over and collaborations with Woven Skull, Liz Harris (Grouper) and To Live and Shave In L.A. He’s studied composition with Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Curran
I’ll be DJing at this wonderful event, arranged by the Nutclough themselves. Japen’s wonderful psychedelic troubadour really should need no introduction on here by now but just in case here he is:
Support comes from the evergreen enigma of Jumble Hole Clough
Delighted to see Hebden Bridge still supporting experimental guitar music in my absence!
Oh bloody hell, I’m doing a gig and I’m the actual attraction rather than the promoter! The Triangle is a beer shop and art gallery in Shipley, Bradford with a fantastic global range of high quality beers. They’ve hosted exhibitions from Richard Dawson and Jake Blanchard among many others. Its a pleasure and an honour to do my first book reading there.
This is their event blurb about the night: Ned Netherwood is the man behind Was Ist Das? the website that evolved into a label, radio show, handwritten music reviews, owlsploitation, beer talk and 5 years of experimental gigs in Hebden Bridge. He will be joining us to read excerpts from his debut book “An Electric Storm: Daphne, Delia & The BBC Radiophonic Workshop” which came out late last year on Obverse Books. He’ll also be signing and selling copies of it, answering any questions and playing a special DJ set of Radiophonic music.
£3 entry (£2 unwaged). Address: The Triangle, 47 Bradford Rd, Shipley BD18 3DS
Was Ist Gigs?